"I have played against some of the best Australian sides. In my opinion, looking at the composition, this is the weakest Australian side to tour India. I don't think this team has the wherewithal to cope with a quality Indian side in the Indian conditions," ~ Harbhajan Singh
After succesive Test series wins against West Indies, New
Zealand, England and Bangladesh, the last three at home, Indian Test team is
surely on a high led by the batting machine Virat Kohli, who has scored a
double hundred in each of them. While England have been by far the best of the
four opposition teams, Australia, unlike Harbhajan's assessment, are no
pushovers and can pose more problems to the home team than the Englishmen.
This Aussie team is surely missing the legendary Glenn
McGrath and his infamous 5-0 prophecies. Mitchell Starc may not match the
Pigeon in prowess nor have the firepower, as a team, to predict a whitewash.
Steven Smith along with Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson and newly-appointed
England skipper Joe Root can match Virat Kohli in batting exploits, but not in
captaining his side in the sub continent conditions.
IPL winning SunRisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner is in peak form and knows the Indian pitches and conditions better than the rest.
He can single handedly turn around a match on its head within a session, but his adventurism can also be his undoing. Smith can count on Warner to take the team to flier but needs to share some of his spin handling secrets with Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh and the rest.
Spin will play a major role, and the Don Bradman of spin -
as Steve Waugh referred to him, Ravichandran Ashwin will again be the most potent
weapon in the Indian armour along with the stingy and testing Sir Ravindra
Jadeja.
Nathan Lyon, like Monty Panesar of England did, can make hay
in the dry grass-less Indian pitches but then he is up against the Pujaras,
Rahanes and Murali Vijays who on their day can make one forget even a rare
Kohli failure.
The early summer heat in India is a factor that can drain
the best of cricketers and Indian pacemen hopefully won’t need to break much
sweat in these conditions.
I personally feel this is going to be a 3-0 Indian win
series. But don’t simply write off the Aussies – they can spring a surprise –
watch out for Dharmasala – The World No.1 Test team with its 19 match unbeaten
streak may get a jolt after all!
Bring on The Aussies, the team that has lost its last 9 Test matches in Asia – Give us some quality cricket in Whites before the pyjama caravan called IPL spoils all the fun!
---------------------------- Pics courtesy: Internet ---------------------------------------
